Steve Stricker putt Tiger Woods into the Masters’ favourite role

Cam Cole, Postmedia News04.09.2013

Tiger Woods of the United States looks on during a practice round prior to the start of the 2013 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2013 in Augusta, Georgia. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
/ Postmedia News

Tiger Woods of the US during a practice round at the 77th Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2013 in Augusta, Georgia. DON EMMERTDON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images
/ Postmedia News

So presumably, when the two frequent Ryder and Presidents Cup partners played a practice round Sunday at Augusta National, Woods returned the favour?

“Ah, no,” Stricker said Monday.

But then he admitted that Woods, the four-time Masters champion, had shared a few tips about how to play the golf course that has mostly confounded Stricker throughout his career.

“I played 14 holes with him yesterday and we were talking about pitching and chip shots and little wedge play. I was asking him what he tries to do, and his action on the way back and on the way through.

“Yeah, it’s mutual. We try to help out one another every once in awhile. It’s not like we do it every time we play or talk to one another. It’s just when things pop up, you know, I’m not afraid to ask him. He’s the best player in the world. He’s ranked No. 1 now again, and it’s fun to bounce some ideas off him here and there.”

Stricker, who has had shoulder problems the last couple of years, has been following a strict regimen of not preparing properly for tournaments this season, and it’s worked well for him. He’s ranked No. 8 in the world.

He spent last week at home in Madison, Wis., hitting balls out of a trailer, since the grass isn’t really up yet.

“And I hit it great today and I feel great with what I’m doing. I just hit some putts and chips and just continue to work on that short stuff, the short game areas that I can’t really do at home yet (other than) maybe hit some putts in my basement, and that’s my practice, about three hours a day.”

It’s practically like being a Canadian.

AUGUSTA LOVE

Almost everyone has a story about why they love the Masters experience.

Matt Kuchar, who will figure in the list of favourites somewhere after finishing tied for third a year ago, remembers playing Augusta National as a freshman at George Tech.

“As a college kid, you never iron clothes or prepare the night before, but when you come to Augusta National, you iron clothes and you lay everything out the night before. You just can’t wait for that morning to come and make that drive down I20 over to Augusta and sit outside across the street from the entrance and wait for the member to arrive so you can get in,” he said.

“It’s just one of those magical memories. I remember every hole seeming to go by so fast and all of a sudden being in the clubhouse having a cheeseburger and couldn’t believe that the round was already over. It still kind of goes by that way to me. You have such anticipation for each upcoming hole, and then before you know it, you’re finished. It feels like you never want it to end.”

KIDS THESE DAYS

Having played the Masters as a teenage amateur, Kuchar is in awe of 14-year-old Tianlang Guan, who qualified by winning the Asian-Pacific Amateur.

“I did it at 19, and I can remember teeing it up with Tiger Woods, and on the first tee being glad I got the ball to balance on the tee. I was so nervous it was like a big moment that it just stayed on, and me trembling so bad that I didn’t knock the ball off.

“(But) at 14, you may be too young to know what you’re in for.”

Tianlang played a practice round Monday with Ben Crenshaw, has one scheduled with Tom Watson today and is scheduled to play the Par-3 with Nick Faldo. The kid’s getting around a bit.

HE’S GOT ISSUES

Stricker says his problems at Augusta have only been partly physical.

“Guys keep telling you, before you even come here, how nerve-racking, how intimidating some of this course can be,” he said. “So this reputation that it has, and it’s rightly so, I guess, it gets in your head, I think, at times.

“It’s a challenging course, and you’ve got to suck it up on a lot of shots and hit quality shots, and I haven’t done that at times.”

His modest length off the tee is not the problem, he said.

“You need to spin the ball here, and I’m not a spinner of the ball. I bring it in with some height, but I don’t put a lot of spin on it, and I think that’s a negative for me here. And I’m coming in with usually a club or two more than some of these big hitters.

“But you know, shorter hitters have proven that you don’t need to bomb it to win here. Weirsy (Mike Weir) winning and Zach Johnson winning … I blow it by those guys,” he said, laughing.

WEIR UNDECIDED

Weir hit several full shots and chipped and putted Monday but said he hasn’t decided whether his rib cartilage injury will allow him to play in the tournament. He may not declare himself in or out until Thursday.

He is, however, scheduled to tee off in Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest with Stricker and Kuchar at 3:44 p.m.

BELGIAN BREWING

Long-hitting European Ryder Cupper Nicolas Colsaerts was suitably awed by his first exposure to Augusta National.

“Coursewise, it’s so much more subtle than I thought. You know, you think that after watching it for so many years, you have an idea of what it’s going to be like, but everything is accentuated by a thousand times,” he said.

“The first time you walk through the clubhouse and you get to see this piece of land in front of you, just how green it is, how clean it is everywhere … I don’t think there’s any place like this.

Asked if he was still putting lights-out, as he did at last fall’s Ryder Cup, Colsaerts chuckled.

“Well, it’s funny, because since Ryder Cup, everybody thinks I average 27 putts a round. I don’t; I just want to make that clear,” he said. “These greens are very different than anywhere else. You hit it on the wrong side of the hole and you’re praying to have a 10footer back.”

He had an hour-long conversation, purely by chance, with six-time Masters champ Jack Nicklaus last week in Palm Beach, Fla., about how to approach each hole at Augusta.

“We were in the clubhouse and I’m chatting away with two members and Jack Jr. comes in, who caddied for Jack in ’86, and we were talking about the ’86 Masters, of course — and one of the members we were with asked Jack, Jr. what would be your advice for your first Masters,” Colsaerts said.

“And he stood still for maybe ten seconds, and he came out with a very clever quote of: ‘I would just talk to Dad.’”

One phone call later, the Golden Bear appeared “and we sat at the table for an hour. I felt pretty lucky.”

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